Basic Mathematics for College Students

18. THE STOCK MARKET An investor has seen the
    value of his stock double in the last 12 months. If the
    current value of his stock is $274,552, what was its
    value one year ago?

Analyze

• The value of the stock in 12 months.


• The current value of the stock is.


• What was the of the stock one year ago?

Form

We can let x= the of the stock one year ago. We
now look for a key word in the problem.

Key phrase:double

Translation: by 2

Now we translate the words of the problem into an
equation.

times is

2 274,552

Solve

State

The value of the stock one year ago was.

Check

This is the current

value of the stock.

The result checks.

Form an equation and solve it to answer each question.
See Example 1.

19. FAST FOOD The franchise fee and startup costs for a
    Pizza Hut restaurant are $316,500. If an entrepreneur
    has $68,500 to invest, how much money will she need
    to borrow to open her own Pizza Hut restaurant?

See Example 2.

20. PARTY INVITATIONS Three of Mia’s party
    invitations were lost in the mail, but 59 were
    delivered. How many invitations did she send?

GUIDED PRACTICE



 2

x

2 x



274,552

2 x

 

the current

value of

the stock.

the value

of the stock

one year ago

2

See Example 3.

21. SPEED READING An advertisement for a speed
    reading program claimed that successful completion
    of the course could triple a person’s reading rate.
    After taking the course, Alicia can now read 399 words
    per minute. If the company’s claims are true, what was
    her reading rate before taking the course?

See Example 4.

22. PHYSICAL EDUCATION A high school
    PE teacher had the students in her class form
    three-person teams for a basketball tournament.
    Thirty-two teams participated in the tournament.
    How many students were in the PE class?

See Example 5.

23. BUSINESS After beginning a new position with
    15 established accounts, a salesman made it his
    objective to add 5 new accounts every month. His
    goal was to reach 100 accounts. At this rate, how
    many months would it take to reach his goal?

See Example 6.

24.TAX REFUNDS After receiving their tax refund,

a husband and wife split the refunded money

equally. The husband then gave $50 of his money

to charity, leaving him with $70. What was the

amount of the tax refund check?

See Example 7.

25. SCHOLARSHIPS Because of increased giving,
    a college scholarship program awarded six more
    scholarships this year than last year. If a total of
    20 scholarships were awarded over the last two years,
    how many were awarded last year and how many
    were awarded this year?

See Example 8.

26. GEOMETRY The perimeter of a rectangle
    is 150 inches. Find the length and the width
    if the length is four times the width.

Form an equation and solve it to answer each question.

27. LOANS A student plans to pay back a $600
    loan with monthly payments of $30. How many
    payments has she made if she now only owes $420?

APPLICATIONS

8.5 Using Equations to Solve Application Problems 685